Wednesday morning, more than 40 teachers and administrators gathered at the Russellville Center for the Arts for a banquet to celebrate their first year teaching in the district, as part of the school district’s New Teacher Academy.

The program helps acclimate teachers to their first year of teaching by scheduling monthly lunches between the new teachers and their principals, as well as quarterly meetings with district administrators.

“Three years ago, when I took the job as assistant superintendent, we did have a two-day orientation for new teachers to the district, but that was it. We’d put them in the classroom and said ‘Good luck,’” assistant superintendent Alene Bynum said.

“My second year in, I realized that is not the best way to attend to the multiple needs of a first-year teacher.”

The academy, which is completing its second year, has shown great success in increasing job satisfaction and forming bonds between teachers.

“We’ve found job satisfaction has improved, and they feel part of not only their school but the entire community,” Bynum said. “It’s really made a difference.”

“When they get with other teachers in their group, they say, ‘Oh, you’re having that same problem? I thought that was just me.’ Teachers can feel very isolated. They feel like they must be the only person who is having this problem, when they not.”

It also has improved teacher-administrator relationships.

“What we find is, they’re saying ‘Alene’ instead of ‘Mrs. Bynum,’” she said. “There becomes a more intimate relationship between the central office and our teachers. When we walk into a building, we know their names.”

Many teachers have found the Academy to have made their first year a more smooth transition into the teaching profession, which can be overwhelming.

“It went by very fast. I enjoyed it as much as the children have,” said Hope Statham, preschool teacher at Oakland Heights. “I learned that you don’t always do what you plan to do that day.”

“It’s been really good. The district’s been awesome,” said Jaclyn Larson, fifth-grade teacher at UE5G.

“The Academy has been very helpful for a first-year teacher.”

The luncheon, termed the New Teacher Academy Graduation, included a performance by members of the RHS choir and a speech by Bynum based on Jim Collins’ bestseller Good to Great.

“Mr. Collins said an organization is like a school bus. The leader is the driver, and the bus represents the organizational structure,” she said in her speech.

“He said you become great by getting the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats, which means placing people where their stengths can be best used. The district decided some time ago that the ‘who’ was the most important part of us becoming great. That is why we chose you.”

Afterwards, the district presented paperweights in the shape of apples to each of the New Teacher Academy graduates.